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Is Filip Chytil the key to the New York Rangers salary cap crunch?

By Jason Katinas

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 11: Frank Vatrano #77 and Filip Chytil #72 of the New York Rangers celebrate Chytil's third period goal against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game Five of the First Round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Madison Square Garden on May 11, 2022 in New York City. The Rangers defeated the Penguins 5-3. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 11: Frank Vatrano #77 and Filip Chytil #72 of the New York Rangers celebrate Chytil's third period goal against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game Five of the First Round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Madison Square Garden on May 11, 2022 in New York City. The Rangers defeated the Penguins 5-3. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – DECEMBER 22: Filip Chytil #72 of the New York Rangers celebrates his goal at 7:14 of the first period against the Anaheim Ducks at Madison Square Garden on December 22, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

The New York Rangers 2022 post season ended with a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals, elevating the team from their three plus years of rebuild. They also skated over the pretender moniker and soared straight into contender status.  Now, with a second place finish in the division and a deep playoff run, General Manager Chris Drury and the New York Rangers have a new set of problems to contend with.

Have the New York Rangers learned to value their youth?

Contenders in the salary cap era need star power to compete. When looking at the Rangers, Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider, Adam Fox and Igor Shesterkin fit the bill. But power, in and of itself is not enough. Teams also need veteran leadership, grit and experience as well. Those boxes get checked off box by the likes of Jacob Trouba, Barclay Goodrow and Ryan Reaves. But most importantly, when operating under a hard salary cap system, a contending team needs young, effective, cost controlled players.

The New York Rangers have an abundance of these players in the organization. At the NHL level, they have Alexis Lafrenière and K’Andre Miller on Entry Level Contracts (ELC). They just extended Restricted Free Agents (RFA) Vitali Kravtsov and Sammy Blais to low cost, one year deals. The team retains the rights to RFA’s, Julien Gauthier, Libor Hajek, Alexandar Georgiev and, most notably, Kaapo Kakko.

Further, Ryan Lindgren is on a team friendly deal that, when it expires, will leave him as an RFA. The same is true for Filip Chytil, who may be the most important puzzle piece for the Rangers to navigate the treacherous salary cap waters over the next few seasons. Chytil is headed into the final year of a two year bridge deal that held a $2.3mm annual average salary. When the deal expires, he will become an arbitration eligible restricted free agent.

Chytil on the rise

Chytil has shown glimpses of promise that he is ready to ascend into the second line center role. Most recently, his playoff performance, where he led the team in possession statistics with a 52.38% Corsi rating. Perhaps more impressive was that he netted seven goals, third most on the team, behind only Zibanejad’s and Kreider’s ten each. He was also tied with Kreider for the team lead with three game winning goals. However, questions still exist regarding his overall readiness and especially his ineptitude in the face-off circle.

What cannot be denied however, is that he is a far less expensive option for the role than retaining either Ryan Strome or Andrew Copp. He will most certainly be less expensive than anyone to be found in Free Agency.  He will also not cost the team any assets in exchange for a player acquired via trade. He would then, more than likely, still cost the team less than the salary cap costs of any trade targeted player.

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